The siren call of our trip is never far from our awareness – it underlies everything we do. Though we find ourselves currently in the midst of other projects, each one of them gets us farther and farther along the way to leaving for seven or more years, knowing that everything is shipshape on the home front.
We continue to work on the fundamentals of preparation for leaving. It’s been a combination of gradually acquiring the clothing, gear, and equipment that we need for being on the road; doing research for what we need; and doing essential organizational projects.
Research projects
Finding what’s out there to make our lives easier feels like a full-time job. That’s my job. I spend hours on the computer looking up products, reading reviews, checking prices, till I find some decent possibilities.
For example, mosquito repellants and sunscreens are essential to our lives, but we’ve not yet scored the ultimate product on either one, though we’ve tried many. Thanks to my time on research we now have several very promising choices to try.
In the last few months I’ve researched world phones (GSM), GPS units, world band shortwave radios, clothing, travel chairs, camping kitchen items, shampoos and lotions, sunglasses, camp items, nutrition bars, food dehydrators, portable hard drives, new touring bicycles, and dozens of other items.
I’m happy to report really good results. We haven’t purchased everything I’ve found yet – budget constrictions are always there – but when the budget allows, I’ll do a last minute check, then get the best product for our needs.
Acquiring clothing, gear, and equipment
We’ve had a few major purchases that we are terrifically happy about, purchases that have already made a big difference in our lives.
Camera
First is our new camera, a Nikon D3000 with 18-55mm and 55-200mm lenses, along with a camera tripod. The Nikon D3000 is an entry level DSLR. While not the ultimate camera that we’d like, it had a couple of compelling advantages: cost – the price was very reasonable (Costco had a great price with cash back at the register); it’s a huge step above what we’ve had so far; it’s got great reviews; it gives us a chance to get used to working with a DSLR before moving on to really expensive cameras.
So far we love it, even without having the time to explore how to use it. With the first photo we noticed much greater clarity, much better color, and a much faster “capture” speed. I wear glasses or contacts, and really struggled with the LCD on our Pentax Optio – I could never get it at a good position to see the scene clearly, and had trouble with the reflections on the screen. Since the Nikon only has a viewfinder, suddenly I can take great photos again (Chelsea’s had to do it till now).
Check out some of our favorite photos with the new camera – the ones of pelicans at the Boynton Inlet, and the ones of the baby possum in the pool, for starters. We figure if the photos are this much better so far, imagine what they’ll be when we really learn the camera.
The tripod is pretty awesome, too. It’s designed like tent poles, with a quick snap approach to opening and closing it. It’s super lightweight and amazingly compact. Chelsea has wanted a tripod for ages…she’s happy now; and she is in group photos at last.
Sunglasses
The second major purchase was sunglasses for Chelsea. I’ve had Oakley Half Jacket sunglasses for at least four years and I’ve loved them. They stay on my face even under hot and sweaty circumstances; they are stable in high winds, and protect my eyes from grit in windy situations; they are excellent under sailing conditions; they have replaceable lenses for different riding conditions; and perhaps best of all, they have excellent optical vision.
Chelsea always felt that she didn’t need decent sunglasses, so she has gotten by with inexpensive pairs or hand-me-downs. Somewhere in 2008 she started realizing how much she too needed a decent pair of glasses. I think it was being out in hot sun so much that turned the corner for her – she started getting headaches and was generally miserable.
In late January we headed over to the Oakley store in the Boca Raton mall. In general we avoid Boca shops as they tend to live up to their negative reputations – lousy attitudes for customer service, and other customers tend to be aggressive and annoying. I bought my Oakleys in South Beach and had a wonderful experience, but we weren’t expecting much locally.
We were delightfully surprised. Max, who’s a manager, and Katie, a clerk, couldn’t possibly have been more helpful and more delightful. Chelsea opted for the Flak Jacket XLJ with two sets of lenses. Max and Katie patiently answered all our questions, and spent forever teaching Chelsea how to switch lenses on a store model so she wouldn’t get home and damage her own lenses accidentally.
While we waited for Chelsea, I showed Max how badly scratched my lenses were. While he couldn’t replace them, he did give me a pair of other lenses that have allowed me to use my sunglasses again (I’d been using a pair Chelsea found). I still need the right kind of replacement lenses, but these have been a lifesaver short term.
We were there a long time, but Chelsea came out happier than she’s been in ages. She dearly loves her sunglasses, and not a day goes by that she doesn’t comment on how much she appreciates them. Major kudos to Max and Katie for being so amazing.
Camping equipment
We felt pretty iffy about our MSR kitchen sink that we bought from REI a few months ago for washing dishes, washing clothes, and carrying water to be filtered. After putting water in it we realized that it would be a real challenge to wash in it because the sides have no stiffening, so the water spreads out sideways, giving no depth.
In my research I heard about the Ortlieb folding bowl, which sounds a great deal more like what we want. We returned the sink unused to REI, combined the refund with a 20% off coupon and our annual dividend, and bought a set of two titanium pots and pans.
The jury is out about the pans – they are very lightweight, we love the handles, and we’ve had great success with our titanium plates and mugs, but these puppies are just so small. They’re still sitting on my desk awaiting a decision to keep or return (we’re leaning towards returning). We may opt for returning them and just get a large aluminum pot (think cooking pasta) and a large fry pan. REI has a 10” fry pan that would be perfect.
Meanwhile, looking for something that will fit the bill requires us to measure what we already have, think carefully about sizes, how we’d pack it, and picture ourselves using it under all circumstances. It’s fun, but time consuming and a bit wearying.
Personal care
One of Symantha’s (Whole Foods) recommendations to us was Burt’s Bees lip balm with color. It’s really wonderful – the first lip balm or chapstick that Chelsea has liked. It makes the lips feel great, prevents dryness and chapping, and adds a bit of color at the same time.
I also did research on organic face and body lotions and shampoos. We ordered them and have tried them for the last month or. The lotions are better than what we’ve tried so far, the face scrub is awesomely wonderful, but the shampoos weren’t a big hit. We’ll keep trying…
I’ve been looking at Rosemary Repel organic hair care since 2008. Formulated for lice, I read several testimonials that it may work on mosquitoes as well. We finally found it locally and got a bottle of shampoo and spray on conditioner. Sigh…neither of them worked for us – we ended up with heavy sticky hair. We’ll likely bring a small bottle with us anyway as it seems to be a sure-fire cure for lice. I’m also going to try spraying it on my skin when mosquito season kicks in around here to see if it works.
Clothing
For almost four years I’ve been looking at Patagonia’s Bandha dress and blouse. We urgently need clothes that are more suitable for our trip than most of what we are presently carrying. I found a blouse and dress on eBay in my size and joined the auction. I won both auctions – getting an $80 dress for $25 and a $50 blouse for $26 (each one arrived in the mail with a personal thank you card).
Best yet, they are the most amazing pieces of clothing I’ve got. Though I haven’t worn the dress yet (no occasion) – I’ve worn the blouse constantly. It fits every one of the rigorous criteria we’ve got. Now that we know we have two winners, we’ll order another one each for me and two each for Chelsea before we go.
Chairs
Yet another wonderful find has been our Travel Chairs. Rather than writing more about it here, read the article I wrote on our Travel Chairs. We may have a chance to do field testing on the Larry Chairs – we’d love to try them – they could be perfect for us, even better than the Teddy aluminum chairs we bought. Meanwhile the Teddy Chairs have been amazingly comfortable.
Organizational projects
Organizing has taken up a great deal of time. We took out every bit of clothing and equipment we’ve had on our trip and sorted it, making decisions on whether it will stay or go, and deciding whether we’d like to replace a particular item or not. We still have several shelves full of items we’re thinking about.
I’ve already written about our massive music project – we still have more to go, but we reached a major milestone by getting all the albums ripped and getting the music from our old hard drives.
We’re looking at food as part of our reorganization, including doing a study of nutrition bars, though that would be a short term solution.
One of our high priorities is to find a food dehydrator and get at least a year’s supply of food dehydrated. Lynn Hair, from Gueydan in Louisiana, took us to Lafayette in 2008 where we attended a wonderful seminar on dehydrating foods for the trail.
If anyone has a food dehydrator we could borrow for a few months, please let us know – we’d be incredibly appreciative.
Technology
Our Toshiba portable hard drive solves a big problem for us; we are deeply relieved that we have it. It’s not completely organized yet – that’ll take some more time and attention, but again, we’re a lot farther ahead.
I’m looking at replacing my laptop which is almost six years old (though it’s still running strong) for something lighter, and something with more USB ports. I need an upgraded wi-fi card with newer antennas, and we are thinking about upgrading to Windows 7 and Office 2010.
I’ve also been looking for an affordable world band GSM phone. Alex loves his Motorola Droid, and they do have a GSM version, but that version doesn’t get great reviews.
We need a good GPS and we need a world band shortwave radio for our south-of-the border years. I’ve researched extensively, but haven’t found anything that suits our needs and is affordable. Suggestions, anyone?
In addition to all the other organization, we’ve done more mundane things, like fixing the elastic on our fleece pants and sewing up Chelsea’s sleep sack. We’ll be in such good shape when we go!
Purchases and New Zealand
The next thing we are looking to do is to raise about $800 by mid-June for the purchase of clothing from New Zealand. We’ve been looking extensively at specific wool jerseys, rain jackets, and riding capris for over four years. I still haven’t found anything better than what Ground Effect in New Zealand carries.
One day on one of our many trips to our local Home Depot we ran into a neighbor of ours. After chatting awhile we discovered that she is from New Zealand and is heading back there for a visit for the first time in several years, to the same town where Ground Effect is located. She has very graciously offered to buy our clothing and bring it back with her, saving us shipping and possible customs fees. Needless to say we are pretty darn excited about it, but we do need to pull enough together to send her off with the cash to buy what we need.
Leaving
When all is said and done, we will be readier than ever for a vastly improved experience on the bike trip. We’ll be organized, we’ll have what we need, and we’ll be a lot more comfortable and secure.
It’s time to finish up this entry for today – we need to eat and I still have to caption several photo albums. I’ll write tomorrow on our riding plans for the next section.